I have been thinking for a while what my next blog will be, and I realized that I never spoke about my most favorite game series of all time. Now if you have seen my little picture many people should know who that is. If you are unfamiliar with who that is, leave now. First time playing the original game in my local Internet Cafe I couldn't believe how much of a crapfest I thought this was, I had paid R20 (South African currency) to play for 30 minutes, and what do I get greeted with? A ten minute tram ride and 15 minutes of waiting for any action. Yay for waste of money.



It took me a while to finally try it again as a fellow friend had the disc I could install on the computer, thinking I had a terrible computer I was waiting for the lag but the game ran beautifully. I was so happy...except that the disc had to be returned in a weeks time. I only got to play this game for 2 hours on the weekends. I hate computer privelages. So a month went by of never playing this game again, until I realized I had a crack that I installed and could play the game without the disc. At that moment the skys opened, Angels sang, and I heard those beautiful words. "They are waiting for you Gordon, In the test chamber."

I couldn't believe it, I was so excited that when I went with my mom for a walk with the dogs, it was all I could speak about, I was so happy I could finally play an action game at the age of 10. This game was amazing, and when I got the Proton Pack (Gluon) all hell broke loose. Entering Xen was so scary, especially the Gonarch, that monstrous sound, that giant egg sac and baby headcrabs. Any physicists worst nightmare.



I played this game for a year, finishing it and playing it again, I also had Opposing Forces made by the same people who did Borderlands, and playing the Shepherd was just as amazing. Then time went by many games came out and I lost sight of Half-Life, until that one day came when I heard a sequel was arriving. I learnt about this in 2003 and I had to tell someone, but no one cared about that that came out in 1998. Except one friend, we rushed to Gamestop to preorder, I told myself that I must have this game I was not going to lose it. I watched every video at least 30 times, and loved every one of them, I could not believe the graphics, and physics and how amazing they looked. Then came the day I thought it was about to come out when I found out a certain source code was stolen. I was ready to kill a hacker that day for ruining my life



"Fine, it's okay" I said to myself, I can wait a couple more months, just release some videos. So finally came the day of it's official release, where I got a call, "Hello, This is Gamestop, we are having a midnight release of Half-life 2, you copy will be waiting for you." I rush to my parents, please take me I begged but they said no and I can just wait for the next day. So after school I got the game, (Collectors edition) and went to install it. I once again had a crappy computer and realized I would get lag. After installation I went into video settings and did automatic settings and it gave me Medium settings, once again Angels sang. So I went New Game, Difficulty: Normal and Start...



Rise and Shine Mr Freeman. Rise and Shine.

"Ah shit" I said to myself, going out to change my pants, I was ready for one of the most Epic games of all time. Everything about the game was epic, until it ended. I couldn't believe the ending, they were really going to leave me hanging like that, I had almost cried. Another thing that I missed out on was the Docks from the earlier videos, and the Hydra, I was quite excited for those but they were not there. The game was pure orgasmic in all areas and I have never been so sad to see a game ended that I could have continued for at least another 24 hours.

Now Valve has impressed me at all times, they came out with Episode one which only lasted about three hours but still moved the game along and added a little bit of closure, then Episode 2 came out with Portal and the connections were just great and the gameplay was even more amazing. I shed a tear when *SPOILERS*


Eli Died


*End Spoilers*


How can a game to do that to me, I had grown so attached to these Characters, the voice acting was amazing. These games will forever be my favorite games, nothing could ever compare to these games they have set the bar for acting, story telling, and gameplay.

News has just come out that there is no Episode 3 coming out this year which disappoints me immensely, where they can come out with Left 4 Dead 2 but no video or even screenshots of Episode 3?


But I will continue to strive on and wait for the next episode in the series because I will always be a Half-Life Fanboy.

See that, up there, that world we like to cool Capital Wasteland? That scares me, it truly scares. Because of giant scorpions? Nah. Maybe it's because of those raiders? Nah. Or maybe it's because are giant baddass super mutant behemoths. Well my answer to that is "Say hello to my little fat boy." What scares me about that game is it's openness. I am an explorer I want everything, and by playing this game I know I won't get everything, yes I will get that platinum but I won't get everything I want. When I first started to play Fallout 3 I thought this game was amazing, starting out as a baby, then all hell breaks loose wooo, I guess it's time to leave the vault. But stepping out I was greeted by my first sight of sunlight and then I saw it, Capital Wasteland. I sat up, put my feet on the floor walked over to my PS3 and turned the game off. And all I could think in my head was "Fuck."


People complain too much that a game is linear, I personally love a linear game, it gives me closure that I did everything, and makes me happy knowing that I completed it. I know I could never complete Fallout 3 fully and that's why I traded it in as soon as I got my platinum. My friend TheJesusNinja put so many hours into that game it's scary but I just saw no need to do that, I had no desire whatsoever.

Now you may be thinking I am a RPG hater, I can promise you it's not that at all. I love Kingdom Hearts, I love Diablo 2, I pretty much did everything possible in Final Fantasy 7 short of getting to level 99. Fallout 3 was a game that deserved it's many many GOTY awards but it was not mine. You know what doesn't scare me? This right here.


People are scared of this game saying it's so hard, I can't play it, I'm a little baby, they have not dropped yet, psh bring it on baby. This game is amazing, I'm on my second character right now going for platinum, very close by the way, and I've so far put in 50 hours. I know I will easily put a 100 hours into this game, I'm making sure to find everything, it's absolutely an amazing game it's beautifully done, (terrible story though) gameplay is amazing, and very unique in my opinion. Now my question I pose to you is, why doesn't this game scare me? Well just because I'm in the mood I'm going to through in a few random answers?

Is it because I can kill this guy?


Is it because I have these swords?


No, it's because I can explore everything that I want knowing I did not miss anything. Each world is unique, each boss a tactic not just random shooting.


So what am I trying to say?

I will never complain about a game being too linear, I am a fan of less openness. I want to make sure I see everything and don't miss a thing. A game can be linear and still be amazing. Games can be too big for me, they scare me.

What are your opinions on the big open worlds?

I have been a PC gamer ever since my grandfather showed me a chess game where the characters truly attacked each other, Battle Chess. PCs have been a big part of my life as for now I want to be an IT tech but I am not talking about my future job I am talking about my current gaming predicament. When I lived in South Africa I never had the money to get all the great consoles like the NES or the SNES and had to deal playing on my computer. I played the greats like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Star-Craft and my all time favorite the Half-Life series. My only issue was the only computer that I could play these games on were about 400 miles away from me and I could only see them once a month. Then one fateful Christmas I was given a Playstation console, oh what a joyous day this was. I rushed downstairs to try it and fell in love with it, but it was my second love, the PC still was still making the breakfast for me in the morning while the Playstation was dressed in it's scantily clad lingerie being my devil on the shoulder.








Finally instead of traveling 400 miles to my games, my other home got a computer strong enough to run Half-Life and Starcraft, what a great day this was, I was on that computer as much as possible (only weekends and when parents weren't home). I was always on the PC playing games. I loved my PC, I loved getting a new game and trying it out, especially when Playstation games were extremely expensive in my country compared to the PC games. When I finally made the trip to move to America I lost my console thanks to different voltages and had to have something to calm my addiction. Well in the first weeks we came to America we got a PC and I was hooked again, but I had no Half-LIfe and I had to wait till we got a video card for christmas present till I could play Black and White. Well after I had my fun I got Diablo...and this changed everything.I was hooked, running around as my sorc rushing people through the game it was just madness and I loved every bit of. But I had to keep it quiet from my Christian parents since even if you press escape it shows the good old pentagram. Then my birthday came around and I got my Ps2. Woo happiness I had been wanting one ever since the rich kid in Africa had one and I finally had my very own. It became my new mistress but I still always came home to my PC.






Then came a time when I built my first computer, oh such a great experience this was my ultimate gaming computer so I could run all my top games without a problem, oh did I love it so much that my ps2 just became a DVD player I was buying games left and right since I had my own job. I could buy any game I wanted and it would run without a problem. Doom 3? Hell Yeah, Half-Life 2? Psh no problem. I was hooked, it was cocaine I needed to stay up till 4 in the morning playing these amazing games. And my poor naked Ps2 was gathering dust, growing decrepid while my sexy PC was bringing me cheese and bacon rolls in bed. Oh Yeah.






While in college my PC died on me and I had to brush off the dust on my Ps2, now this was not the cocaine my PC was giving me but it quelled the shakes. Then I found a new high paying job and it was time to get that PC up and going again, I went out and bought her some new clothes, got a little plastic surgery, I am sorry I meant a new case some new innards and she was good to go, she was the dominant one in the bedroom. And I played her like I have never played before, Crysis? Oh yeah High Settings baby and she purred like a kitten. The Ps3 was out by then I knew I wanted one but $600 was a hefty price tag even though my computer was about $400 more I had a lot more usage for it. But I was earning the big money but to shell out so much for a console, it hurt badly but I paid the price and got my console with a new game and it was fun but it was the $100 console on the corner compared to the high paying PC up in the bedroom. I was not hooked just yet. I was still up in the bedroom playing with my PC. I think the issue with this was I wanted to play on an HDTV but the only Tv that was HD was my parents. And then I moved out and bought my own 52 inch HD TV and hooked up my console to it and life came into my PS3. But the PC cried out to me, "BioShock is waiting for you. So is left 4 dead, and so is a non buggy Half-Life, I know you want me." And wanted her, I did. My Ps3 became my Ps2 it was my DVD player with the occasional exclusives coming to it that I would play and finish and be back to my PC.





Then this stupid little thing came out, this awful PC killing "thing" came out (see below).





And the PC started to power down, it wasn't showing it's blue light as often any more, the fans were not blowing as they used to and my electrical bill was coming down. These "trophies" gave me a reason to buy Ps3 games that were on the PC, I wanted them, I wanted to show I was the best, I wanted to show all my friends look at my giant e-(bad word) and I am better than you with all my platinums. I knew I wanted these badly and my PC was crying, "I have a mouse and keyboard" and I yelled back with a slap "But no trophies." I was hooked I mean if a game didn't come with trophies I honestly didn't want to get it, I felt that it was a crappy game I wanted those trophies, I didn't want to get Rock band 2 because the trophies were too hard but the real girl in my life loved her Rock Band so I had to survive and get this game and have a crappy 2% trophies achieved for this game. But I was hooked to trophies, I love them they sold me. How sad is that? A little indicator to say you have got a trophy has turned me into a console gamer. I look at my PC while typing this and not a tear comes to my eye I yell what do you have that my Ps3 does not and it whimpers "Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3." But I shook my head and said "Not yet." Maybe one day when these two games come out my PC will become a Phoenix and be reborn but not yet, definitely not yet. I know that when Episode 3 comes out for Half-life I will be getting that on the PC and on my console just because it is my favorite series.



It's very sad to look at my PC, I really do want to play games on this, but something that will stroke my ego with trophies is just more appealing, I don't see how this could change anything but it does. I tried to throw in some old games into my PC but I just got bored in ten minutes. I throw in some old games on my PS3 to get those extra trophies and I am loving it. Seriously I got the 10,000 kills on resistance 2 that's how hooked I am into my trophies. My lady in my house hated that game after I was done but I told her to look at that platinum and love it.



Oh my PC how sad it is to part with you. You will still be my workstation for important parts but you won't be the gaming PC that I once had.

Good bye sweet prince.